With modern construction techniques, the brick exterior cladding applied to buildings is used primarily for aesthetic purposes. Its sole functional purpose is to prevent moisture from coming into contact with interior components of the wall.
The present invention is concerned with providing a wall of this general sort where the brick veneer is used as a structural component to resist lateral loads. The invention accomplishes this through the use of a novel tie assembly that joins the back-up wall and the veneer so as to transmit shear loads therebetween.